DennisDugan Tagged Articles at Cinematical

I was watching Happy Gilmore the other day and I thought to myself, "Where did this guy go?" Adam Sandler comedies aren't for everyone -- they're silly and stupid and one step above an hour and a half of Yo Mama jokes (which isn't necessarily a bad thing -- remember how well it worked out for that scene in White Men Can't Jump ...). These days, however, amidst the Apatow and the Rogen and the Rudd, I'm finding it hard to locate those random Sandler die-hards. I know it's sad to say, but I don't think I've laughed during an Adam Sandler movie since Punch Drunk Love in 2002 ... and that wasn't even an "Adam Sandler movie", but more of a movie that starred Adam Sandler.

Which brings us to today, and an announcement in Variety that Sandler is reteaming with pretty much all the guys who've made crappy films with him in the past: Kevin James, Chris Rock, Rob Schneider, David Spade and director Dennis Dugan (Zohan). The film, which will begin shooting this summer, doesn't have a title but is described as a high-concept story about five best friends from high school who reunite 30 years later on Fourth of July weekend. Not sure what's high-concept about that (do they all turn into superheroes?), but we'll see where they take it. With all these guys, it'll either turn out to be the biggest piece of cow dung to ever hit the screen ... or maybe, just maybe, there's some funny to be had.

What do you folks think? Can Adam Sandler make another funny movie? And can he do it with this all-star Sandler cast?

It would be one thing if You Don't Mess With the Zohan was simply bad; after the recent string of Adam Sandler comedies like I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, Click and The Longest Yard, You Don't Mess With the Zohan continues the Sandler career path where low comedy is intended to result in high profits. Sandler's films now seem to function mostly as a kind of philosophical experiment: How lazy, sloppy and stupid can a film be and still make money? And let's not mince words here, or hem and haw and add caveats about a few laughs or good intentions: You Don't Mess With the Zohan is astonishingly, impressively, depressingly bad.

And no, this is not some sneering, soft-handed ivory-tower resident looking down on Sandler's work from a lofty height; this is someone who loves a good smart dumb comedy telling you that if you see You Don't Mess With the Zohan, you'll witness a moment where Zohan -- the Israeli commando-turned-hairdresser played by Sandler -- wishes a sad farewell to someone with his junk. We get a close-up of it -- bulging, frame-filling -- and it waggles a little wave to us, sadly, as Zohan wishes goodbye to a girl he might have loved, eyes sad and crotch engorged.

Adam Sandler is re-teaming with one of his most frequent directors, Dennis Dugan, for You Don't Mess With the Zohan. We recently brought you news on the film, in which Sandler will play a Mossad agent who fakes his death so he can move to New York and become a hairstylist. Regardless of how this project turns out, it's refreshing to hear a premise that doesn't sound exactly like everything else. Rob Schneider, who has made quite the career of playing strangely accented dudes in Sandler films, has signed on to play a East Yistannen cab driver. Sandler wrote the screenplay with two of today's greatest comedy minds: Judd Apatow (I'm seeing Knocked Up tonight -- jealous?) and Robert Smigel, who has written some of the greatest bits ever to appear on Late Night With Conan O'Brien and Saturday Night Live.

Dugan has worked with Sandler before on two of his better comedies, Happy Gilmore and Big Daddy. They must have a great relationship because Dugan also directed this summer's I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry with Sandler, Kevin James, Jessica Biel and Steve Buscemi, who I hope is not wasted like he was I Think I Love My Wife. Chuck and Larry should be out in July, and the fact that Alexander Payne has a writing credit has me very intrigued to see it. To get a little deeper into the Dugan ouevre, check out two really underrated comedies: Saving Silverman -- a movie I never understood all the hatred for, and Brain Donors, an absolutely hysterical Marx Brothers update with John Turturro that almost no one has seen. Shooting for Zohan starts this summer in Los Angeles and New York, and the movie should be out in Summer 2008.